Subj : Hercules - Mainframes Emulator
To   : Miken
From : Richard Menedetter
Date : Tue Apr 25 2017 20:08:00

Hi Miken!

24 Apr 2017 22:40, from Miken -> Richard Menedetter:

 RM>> If you cannot comprehend the above information (which is
 RM>> extremely well prepared), what exactly do you want to do in the
 RM>> mainframe area?
 Mi> please don't get me wrong. The reason for my "rejectal" is just
 Mi> simple. When the machine doesn't have a keyboard (and I hope I'm not
 Mi> wrong) it's just out of my generation. I grew up on ZX, school years
 Mi> on PC until now. All this machines have one thing in common. It has a
 Mi> keyboard and a command line where to type in.

I am also no PDP expert.
But I assume that all of them had the capability to use terminals.
But indeed Altair the KIM-1 and I assume the PDP were mostly initialized by
switches.

I grew up with a C64/C128.
And taking a look at the KIM-1 for example is very interesting.
You have an easy interface. xxxx yy
where xxxx is the hex address and yy is the 8 bit value of that memory address.
It comes with a serial interface and a basic monitor program.
Actually quit intuitive.

 Mi> Please correct me if I'm wrong... but PDP is programmed by switches.

I am also no expert.
I assume that the switches were only used for bootstrapping.
In contrast to the Altair or the KIM which mostly used it as the main way of
input.

 Mi> And I'm sorry for it.

No need to be sorry for anything ;)

 Mi> And it's not really a natural thing to talk in ASM.

It is the most natural thing for the machine ;))

 Mi> Whatever I hope I didn't insult You or so.

Absolutely not!
By rereading what I wrote I relly hope it is not the other way around.

 Mi> That's why I wanted to explore some of the Mainframes. I don't think
 Mi> the really real Room computers that used punch cards. I'm interesting
 Mi> in machines that are stable and runs ... and provides at least in some
 Mi> form a command line.

All mainframes were really stable ;)
PDPs have a terminal connection:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hyUActgT2E

CU, Ricsi

--- GoldED+/LNX
 * Origin: Learn a foreign language... C (80:774/18)

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